Jamie Lee Curtis credits her triumph over an addiction to painkillers for her enduring success as an actress.

The long time Hollywood
star made her comments during an interview on the Today show, saying, "My
recovery is the single greatest accomplishment of my life. And without that,
the rest of my life would have fallen apart. Some people get it. Robert Downey
Jr was in prison for a year. And he is not only the greatest movie star in the
world, he's a fantastic representative of someone who can repair the damage of
their life. Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in a shambles and you
have to change it. I was lucky, I didn't have to lose anything."

Curtis became addicted to prescription pain killers after cosmetic
surgery in her mid thirties and spent several years secretly abusing opiates. Now
ten years into her recovery, Curtis says that loneliness and the pressures of aging
in an environment that rewards youth were part causes of her need for escape,
calling the morphine she used, “the warm bath from which to escape painful
reality.”